We prevented back surgery (costing $15,000) in a woman whose chronic constipation was causing debilitating low back pain. When we examined her, the abdominal mass was terrible, and she had been too shy to tell her doctor, who had not examined her and gave her more medication. The analgesics were…

This is a fact.
It is called metabolic respiration and involves intake of nutrients and release of products and wastes. It precedes thoracic respiration (breathing as you know it)
Cellular respiration in a complex organism is coordinated and patterned.